Free Gold Watch

For decades there was a slightly dodge "antique" store around the corner from my place on Waller at Stanyan. After sopme turnover, an old sign remained and then was taken on as the new front's proper name: Free Gold Watch! Free Gold Watch! screen prints custom t-shirts in the back, and the front of the hall is filled with 80s/90s era pinball machines and is a ridiculous amount of fun!

I've stopped in from time to time on my evening walks, and PeeDee and I decided to take a long walk through the Haight last night—greedily devouring the last of the warm, sunlit evenings—and stopped and spent all our singles at the arcade. One of the treats is a rare, limited edition Wizard of Oz pinball game that is remarkably intricate and fun to play. At a dollar a game, we could burn through some serious money easily.




(Forgive the vertical orientation, I though it was the natural view. I didn't realize Flickr would letterbox it.)

My favorite though, was the Star Trek: The Next Generation game, with soundtrack samples and effects for all of the action.


Every time I got change I felt like that 7th grader who's parents would give him five dollars (which was huge!) to spend at The Game Room in Green Hills with the rest of the boys in his class after the Fortnightly dance lessons. Free Gold Watch is primarily a pinball arcade, but there are also a restored consoles of Centipede, Ms. Pac Man and Frogger and others in there, and that will take you back.

harvest time

The daylight hours are getting shorter and shorter and we're still on Daylight Savings Time. I can feel winter getting closer, and I took some time to appreciate the goodness that is the Upper Haight/Cole Valley Farmers Market. I love stopping by after work on Wednesday during the summer and filling up with so many fresh vegetables that I have trouble going through them by the time the next Wednesday rolls around (which reminds me I still have some green beans in the fridge which need cooking). I'm having a little anticipatory farewell anxiety for the "fall" of the farmers' market.




Also, I can't tell if it's allergies or Folsom weekend exhaustion but my sinuses and eyes are all crazy this week, and I was so happy to burl up last night and make a pot of soup. I can make soup like Minnie can fry up chicken. And it can cure what ails you.


I was thinking carrot-dill soup, but all the vendors were out of fresh dill. There harvest squash galore and I thought I would try cooking a rather pumpkin-looking one with the red pepper and carrot soup, and throw it in with some chicken broth and a head a garlic, an onion, some german butter potatoes, fresh ginger and white beans. (the potatoes and the beans act as a creamy thickener, and adds some good protein and fiber). Cooked, pureed, and salt, pepper, and dried dill to taste. Lunch, dinner, lunch, repeat.


Holy harvest I can make a soup! I am loving this. And am going to try all sorts of new harvest squash.

this guy is a serious jerk

The Ice Cream Bar, Cole Valley

summer in Cole Valley

Warm(ish) evenings and long daylight hours welcome us to the Thursdays Off the Grid circle of food trucks near Haight and Stanyan.


And the evening light strikes scenes I hadn't really noticed before. Like the beautiful nature of this worn and weathered parks sign.


I didn't know what Golf "and I.P.M." meant. I thought I.P.M. must be some sort of antique game like bocce or croquet. A little Googling revealed the far less romantic definition of Integrated Pest Management.

Regardless, the sign is pretty, and would make a good portrait subject.

I'd rather have the Clampetts.

Ugh. My neighbors behind me (the view from my apartment) are getting increasingly trashy.


Directly behind me the nice garden has been halfway remodeled, and then stopped there. And now the new tenants have added large chickens. Generally, I love domestic, urban chickens. But these things are LOUD. Enough to wake me up on Saturday morning. The next neighbors to the right have just let the back yard go to seed, again, and left a nasty jungle with plenty of critters. The family that has back yard to the far right must have moved in when property prices or rent were dirt cheap as they activities and parties in the back yard make the worst rednecks I've met seem highfalutin. And that is saying something. Their kids tend to run around in the "let's break things, set things on fire, and throw things onto the cars parked below" way. And now they have gussied up their back litterbox with an abandoned washing machine.


You know you're firmly established yourself as white trash when appliances start appearing on the lawn. Barnyard animals, a field of weeds, and discarded machines. The yuppies in Cole Valley are keeping it classy.

book 'em

Well, the Captain at the SFPD Park Station isn't so much "booking" them as "newslettering" us.  If you haven't read any of the Park Station Newsletters, you rally should. They are both informative of the nature of crime in the neighborhood, and ridiculously delightful to read.

For example, on the blotter for this week:

10:20 AM Danvers & Corbett Hooch Hoister
Officer Machado cited a brazen boozehound for possession of an open container of hooch.

10:55 AM Haight & Shrader Fugitive from Justice Apprehended
Sgt. Meyer observed a remorseless rogue gulping down quantities of John Barleycorn. Further investigation revealed the rummy to be a fugitive from justice with nineteen active warrants out for his arrest.

Captain Corrales may be overly fond of alliteration, but so am I. These newsletters are a bright spot in a crime world, and I'm impressed he can find a spirit of whimsy considering the crap they put up with in the Park.

The newletter was featured recently on the SFist following the stonerclusterfuckfest that was April 20 in the Haight (on which I commented earlier and again), and for the generally amusing and creative spin the Captain puts on an otherwise boring "stuff the cops did this week" newsletter.

From this publicity, I imagine, there came some backlash from the homeless advocates who took issue with the playful, colorful, and perhaps cavalier manner in which the homeless lawbreakers were described (scofflaws! Nincompoops!). Frankly, these knicker-twisters need to put a sock in it and fight some real battles if they actually care about change.

From today's introduction:

Last week I had a meeting with members of several homeless advocacy organizations who expressed a num- ber of concerns. Despite the fact that generally they felt we should stop citing the homeless and I informed them that we will continue to cite violations of the law, I believe that it was a very productive meeting. Al- though we will have to agree to disagree on many issues, it was important for me to get their input and I am very glad that they are zealous advocates.

Inevitably, this newsletter was a cause for complaint. I explained that I feel my responsibility is to assure that the officers from Park Station who encounter the homeless conduct themselves with professionalism. They are mandated to treat everyone with dignity and compassion. We have four Homeless Outreach Offi- cers at Park Station who make thousands of contacts with the homeless every month. The fact that I have not received any public complaints of verbal or physical abuse, or even rudeness to the homeless by Park Station Officers, in the eleven months that I have been in command demonstrates our success.

I pointed out that the police treatment of the homeless is what is important, not my occasionally politically incorrect description of them in a silly newsletter. I informed them that the terms that I have used in the newsletter were descriptive and accurate, not denigrating. It was however, pointed out to me that hobos ride trains. Point taken.

The Captain and his force are doing good work, and have a lot to deal with procedurally and politically when dealing with the homeless and the casual drug culture of the Haight.

Please note this on the Captain's Remarks on 04/25:

I would like to offer my apology for the unacceptable event which took place at Sharon Meadow Saturday. As the commanding officer of the Park Police District, I bear the sole responsibility for any and all crime issues which take place in my district. I can assure you that I personally found the event as distasteful as anyone.

Despite my zero tolerance philosophy for marijuana crimes, I have the responsibility to prioritize the use of my resources. I vowed that the violence which took place at last year's event, and on Haight Street at the conclusion of last year's event, would not be repeated this year. There was virtually no violence as a result of Saturday's pagan gathering. We did manage to arrest seven criminals for selling drugs to undercover officers and over thirty traffic citations were issued. My staff and I are already working on improving our efforts for next year's event. We will work very hard to improve the situation.

above the belt

I wasn't close to having the inspiration for a full work out at the gym today, but it was sunny and warm enough to inspire me to take the strenuous hike up Stanyan and across to Tank Hill. Seriously, with weather like this I just can't stay indoors.


I usually take the east side of Stanyan as it has more stairs cut into the hillside (it's like a 60° angle up that hill), but I took the west side tonight and saw something I had never noticed before. I cleared narrow stairway between houses, and a new parks sign marking it as the entrance to the Interior Greenway.






I had no idea! I can't wait for the time and sunshine to properly explore. A little investigation revealed this old information from SF Recs & Parks:

Interior Greenbelt Urban Trails Project
Poor and unsafe access strictly limits the number of visits to the Interior Greenbelt natural area, which abuts a large network of multi-use trails in the University of California San Franciscoﾒs Mt. Sutro open space. There is no safe designated access to the natural area from the neighborhood to the east, along Stanyan Street. Rehabilitation of an unsafe trail that connects to the UCSF trail network and Edgewood Drive was completed in 2009. The Urban Trails Program will improve neighborhood access from Stanyan Street to the Interior Greenbelt and the UCSF property, and will install wayfinding signs to guide park users. Trailside vegetation will be restored to increase hikersﾒ sense of safety and improve aesthetics and habitat value.

It seems work was completed last year as I found this story in the SF Gate:

For generations, a flight of rickety steps squeezed between two Cole Valley homes seemed to belong to no one and lead to nowhere.
This month, however, San Francisco unlocked the long-hidden secret beyond that staircase - a leafy, birdsong-filled glen once owned by city forefather Adolph Sutro and fenced off for more than a half century.

The 12-acre spread, known as the Interior Greenbelt Park, is now open to members of the public, who can meander along the half-mile trail to the top of Mount Sutro, passing a seasonal creek as well as shrubs and plants not seen anywhere else in the city. "Most people in San Francisco and Twin Peaks have been driving by these stairs for decades and never thought they was worth investigating," said Craig Dawson, executive director of the Sutro Stewards, a conservation group that aided the city's Recreation and Park Department in uncovering the trail.

Giddy! A new park and right in my backyard! So to speak.

I do love walking up the top of Stanyan, although sometimes the view of the Bay and the gorgeous homes and cottages can depress me for I know I'd never in a million years be able to afford one. At least this area seems tech/hipster free so far. Although I used to walk this loop all the time and I've seen crappy old places be renovated into million-dollar listings. It can still feel other/old worldly sometimes..


The view (and wind) from Tank Hill continues to be impressive.

it puts the garbage in the bin or else it gets the hose again

And it gets worse: Golden Gate Park, already underfunded for basic operations, is having to spend $15,000 to cleanup after the 420 slobs.

Ted Loewenberg, president of the Haight-Ashbury Improvement Association neighborhood group, said the marijuana celebration “was a disaster for the park and for the neighborhood…Thousands of people, despite their alleged good intentions, were frankly the biggest slobs we’ve ever seen…It looked like a garbage truck had been detonated."

See also this report from Uppercasing. The surrounding neighborhoods were also trashed, traffic snarled by the obliviously stoned in the streets, and businesses forced to close because of the crowds, the high, the crazy, and the violent.

The merchants had quite a time of it, too. Booksmith closed early after a guy missing his shirt refused to leave the store because there were people “waiting for him” outside. According to employees present at the scene, the brawl turned into a hundred-person mob that took an hour to clear out. The decision to close the store came when it took officers “about 20 minutes” to get to the scene, since the foot and vehicle traffic was so thick.

Rapidly hating 420, and willing to support fire hoses. This isn't celebratory of anything, excepting being a selfish user, infringing on others' freedoms, and being destructive to the City the participants claim to love.

For all the right-wing pearl clutching regarding gatherings like the Folsom Street Fair, at least those folks have their shit together, pay for city services, clean up after themselves, and raise a truckload of money for charity in the process. That's good for the City all the way around.

keep an eye out!

I don't fear I will fall prey to a similar addiction—but from my neighborhood to the world, a new trend is bursting forth.

In a single word: monocles.

bad sign

Not okay. The awesomest of hand crafted Neapolitan pizzas around here is at Club Deluxe in the Upper Haight. A labor of pure love by Giovanni. Some of my friends are such devotees he has named pizzas after them. Sure, Deluxe will still have fresh and craft cocktails, and the spa collins will continue to call my name on a hot day, but EasterSF has the sad news that there's a sign on the door announcing that Giovanni is slpit from the Deluxe.

Very sad. And that the split wasn't amicable is bad. And that they are filling the void with crappy mediocre fare from parter bar The Orbit Room is worse. At this point, just walk down the street to Fat Slice and forget about any appreciation for quality.

Via Alert Readers SP and PD.

rinse cycle

The City and the Board of Parks and Recreation has finally closed the eviction saga on the Haight-Ashbury Recycling Center. The recycling center served a purpose long ago when recycling centers were rare, and curbside recycling but a green dream. But in the past 15 years, the eastern end of Golden gate Park has become dense with homeless, drugs, crime, and vagrants determined to make the park their own realm of squalor. I am not insensitive to the plight of the urban homeless, and used to be active in Old First Presbyterian's faithful response to homelessness. However, I am also a passionate support of parks and nature preserves. And those camped at the eastern end of the Park (my neighborhood) are not "down on their luck" or looking for a place or way off the streets. These are either drug-addled are disturbed, and increasingly violent people. Just this week one such person at the Stanyan and Haight entrance to the park laid down and blocked traffic, then seriously wounded the two police offers who stopped to offer aid. The young people who flock to the Haight to do drugs and "hang out" indefinitely just piss me off (aka "trustifarians" as some live off trust funs while the hip it out in the Haight. They can't afford food or shelter, but sport thousands of dollars in ink and piercings.). And they have pushed this liberal San Franciscan [this close] to becoming that old guy who yells at them to get off his lawn. As it is I sometimes shout, but too often just shrug, as they piss on our stoop doorway, defecate in our driveway, and break into our cars. And yet the price of a one bed-room place is $1,700/month, or $750,000 to buy in this otherwise wonderful neighborhood.

Drug addiction and street crazy are real, serious urban problems. But is is not the mission of the park system to address them. HANC, the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, consists solely of old, former hippies who think we can all just hug it out in the Park. And they have fought tooth-and-nail as the established neighborhood political power group, against the objections of the other coalitions of neighbors and local businesses. Long ago the "recycling center" became the ATM for the homeless, and according to all non-HANC accounts, for drug buys. The City pays dearly for curbside recycling, and the curbside recycling company can only operate by recouping some of its expenses from the recyclable materials they collect. So now every resident dutifully separates their recycling, and once a week puts it out on the curb, where it is legally a crime to steal it as that is the currency used to pay for the recycling service. But once the big blue bins hit the curb, the scavengers come by, rummage through (although sometimes tidily), take anything with a redemption value, haul it away, and wait until morning where they can exchange it for cash down the street, and then drugs again just mere feet away. This is readily observable and repeatedly documented. As the eviction process got increasingly hostile a couple of years ago, the center added a small "native plant nursery" inside in an attempt to legitimize their use and continuing operations (We're in the park! We have plants! It's wrong to evict us! Please ignore the rampant drug abuse and violence!).

The City has very limited resources for either its green environmental programs (like curbside recycling and composting) or green environment programs such as Parks and Recreation. HANC wants to keep the center to serve the homeless. The Center is on Park land and falls under their responsibility and liability.

I reiterate: Homelessness and drug addiction are problems worthy of attention. It is not the Mission of the park to address them. Cash for stolen materials to fund drug abuse is not an appropriate allocation of citizen, City, or Park resources, nor something to be preserved in a residential neighborhood.

The Park and City have been trying to shut this blight down for more than a decade. The lease was up ten years ago. The final, final eviction came in November. The HANC has been all but violent against the closure for years.

After two years (three?) of eviction notices and protests and refusals to vacate, the City and the Sheriff took the only option remaining to them to fulfill due process: They bulldozed the place.

And in true San Francisco nutter fashion, protestors threw themselves in font of it. See the ABC news piece. However, the 1,000 people the HANC president claimed to have pledged to chain themselves to the center last year never appeared. It was closer to three.

The planned future park use is for a community garden, which is in keeping with the hopes of the actual neighbors (not HANC, the center is near neither Haight nor Ashbury) and the mission and charge of Parks and Recreation.

I had noticed that it was finally gated off, but I didn't notice it gone when I walked home last night. I'm looking forward to seeing what the site looks like now, and very much looking forward to seeing the site in the future.

Update:
Here's the view from my walk this morning. a backhoe was still moving bits around.

watchful

Okay, how much?

I say tomato

The harvest season is in full swing and I still feel all sorts of appreciation and neighborhood happiness at the weekly farmers market two blocks from my doorstep.  The tomatoes are amazing and I wistfully think of the summer tomato festival in East Nashville every summer.  I've been making meals out of a tomato, balsamic, great big fresh leaves of basil and a little mozzarella.  Omigawd.

The tomatoes also make for some pretty pictures:

voitures

Sitting in my phone and waiting for upload have been these little bits for the family.  My nephew Leland is obsessed with Pixar's Cars characters. He was ecstatic to be able to build his own Cars car last holiday season at the new Disney Store in Union Square.

At my neighborhood's farmers' market last week, the voice of the singing French car in Cars 2 was performing for tips. I took a pic and clip for Mac and Emily. They are still debating on whether Leland would this think this was cool, or if it might destroy the illusion that the Cars are real.

what happens when Batman moves to SF

My neighbors have put in the best garage doors ever.



Read the saga of how the SF planning commission said that if they put in a garage, they must preserve the original facade of the building, and how they did it. (Beausoleil Architects)

in the dell

It's Wednesday again, and last week I noticed that the Wednesday Cole Valley farmer's market has returned to the Waller Street pavement park at Stanyan.  Tasty fresh fruit and veggies abound.  If you're up the hill, Wednesdays are also the day for the UCSF farmer's market located on the mezzanine next to the  the top of the main elevator bay between 400 and 500 Parnassus.

Get fresh vegs for dinner Wednesday evening at Waller and Stanyan, then come back Thursday evening for the food trucks at Off the Grid.

keep on truckin'

As the weather improves, my coworkers and neighbors and I have been enjoying the Upper Haight Off the Grid Thursdays more and more.  Off the Grid brings a caravan of food trucks to a single destination, in our case they circle the wagons around a public seating area on the newly pedestrian-only block of Waller at Stanyan. The cuisine ranges widely—from comfort foods and gourmet burritos to Curry Up Now— the cupcake truck always seems to have the longest lines. I haven't yet found the wait : cupcake :: cost : benefit worth, but I'll let you know.


. .

belly up to the food truck

Sure, I'm not going to stalk a twitter feed to find where I can find this week's super trendy sweet potato tater tot truck, but when a dozen urban gourmet food trucks park outside my front door, I'm gonna go.

Off The Grid food truck dining experiences circles a caravan of amazing eateries on wheels every Thursday just down the street from my apartment in the lot formed by the closure of Waller Street from Stanyan to Lincoln, next to the Kezar Pavilion and a block south of Haight Street.  Now this is Some Tasty, and yes, the sweet potato tots are worth it.




And with the recent spate of awesome weather, it is a neighborhood picnic extravaganza. Everyone is all smiles and chatty and happy to greet a neighbor over a basked of Curry in a Hurry or a tasty Hawaiian ginger chicken bowl from Lumpia. The line for the cupcake truck is comical. But it's a great way to greet a sunset as spring fast approaches.




And when harvest time settles in, the new farmers' market will return to the space on Wednesdays. Who knew a public lot would become my favorite local eatery?

Earlier shots of the Cole Valley Farmers' Market:


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